Neil reminded members about the Peace Dinner on Saturday, Feb. 24th in Wagga. He would also like to know if there are any other members willing to help out with the catering of the Towards Peace discussion at Kildare Catholic College on afternoon of Saturday the 24th Feb. If so, Neil and the catering team will be having a meeting at the Sport and Rec on Monday the 19th at 6:00 pm to prepare; please come along or if you cannot make it give Neil a call.

**** Daryl reminded us that a pool party will be on at the Coolamon pool for Lucie’s birthday next Sunday from 2 - 6 pm. It would be great if members could help make this Australian birthday for Lucie a good one.****

Jackson Wykes has also been doing really well in Finland and is enjoying his time in the snow.

A sauna in the snow, courtesy of Jackson

Paul Weston has agreed to be DGE John Glassford’s assistant Governor for Group 6 for 2018/19, which consists of Coolamon, Junee, Temora, Cootamundra & Lockhart Clubs.

We need to pick up 5 or 6 boxes of phone books from PO this week.

Bingo results announced by Captain Henk showed a profit of around $190 with 16 players.

Street raffle for Sat. March 17th.

Board meeting this Thursday night.

Next Monday’s, 19th Feb. Guest speaker is Jan Nulty

Guest Speaker is Pat Leary on 26th February

See Diary & quote of the week below

Guest Speaker - Clare Munro on her Humanitarian trip to PNG

Clare spoke on her time in Papua New Guinea last October. She went with her cousin & local Sister Bernadette Pattison.

They visited an area on the north west coast known as Sandaun province, which is the east & west Sepik area and has the most beautiful beaches, but very isolated due to bad roads.

Clare interviewed the 20 plus national sisters about their health & welfare & wrote a report to the leader.

She believed she was able to make an immediate difference to the lives of 3 sisters, plus 2 of their friends the sisters brought in having identified, themselves, that help was required.

She hopes it will help them understand the need to be proactive in a very reactive health environment.

As a whole the sisters were fairly healthy, despite the fact that many had come from very isolated & sometimes violent areas. Their teeth were great, although their eyes gave them trouble and everyone had a tattoo of some description; most of the tattoos were on the face.

Those that can get to the hospital find that the facilities are good, and emergency/acute care is normally available. The problem was it seemed that a 1-2 day walk was needed to get to a road or boat.

A highlight was being present for an anti-violence Train-the-trainer workshop; the Presentation Sisters worked in partnership with the PNG Tribal Foundation to provide the training to the area. Clare was amazed at the number of people at both the training and the closing film and signing of the anti-violence pledge.

Clare spent the $500 donated by the Rotary Club of Coolamon on the nurses she met, some of whom were nuns & others at the local hospital. Clare purchased BP machines and a set of scales, items that the nursing staff had requested.

The next thing the Wagga Sisters would like to get organised & need help with is the maintenance of the buildings in PNG. Many years ago the buildings were built by the original sisters from Australia and New Zealand. The sisters had organised their families and friends to visit PNG & built some very functional and still very comfortable convents. There are some good tradespeople who can do the work, but finding those who knows about termites and how to prevent the infestations and its treatment is problematic. Talking to the sisters, Clare got the feeling they had grown up with the mentality that most buildings only last so long and that you pull them down and start again.

Clare stated she will be eternally grateful to the sisters for allowing her to go.

The contribution made by Rotary to the hospital and area after the tsunami

This baby has TB & needs care for four months.

This is one of 5 buildings on this very large block. There is limited maintenance & very little extra equipment since the rebuilding

25 Years of Peace Communities

The idea of Peace Communities was initiated in District 9700 in 1992, and has been embraced by many Rotary districts and clubs around the world. Coolamon was the first Rotary peace town in the world, and many Peace Cities have now been designated. Rotarians committed to furthering peace set up peace symbols on suitable sites and, along with other community members, meet on special days to recognise local citizens, students, schools and organisations for their contribution to Peace in Action within the community.

To this end, Rotary is celebrating 25 years of the peace communities by holding a peace program over the 23rd-24th of February, concluding with a gala dinner in the Mirage room at the Wagga RSL Club on the 24 Feb. Come and join in the celebration (details below).

February is WORLD UNDERSTANDING month

"The month of February is very special in the Rotary calendar since it is designated World Understanding Month. The month also includes the anniversary of the first meeting of Rotary held on February 23, 1905, now designated World Understanding and Peace Day.. World Understanding Month is a chance for every club to pause, plan and promote the Fourth Avenue of Service-Rotary’s continued quest for good-will, peace and understanding among people of the world." - ABC’s of Rotary by Cliff Dochtermann

District 9700 Board 2018-2019

The 2018-2019 D9700 Board is coming together nicely and the restructure is going to work and work well. DGN John McKenzie and DG George Weston are committed to making it work, as are the others on this much smaller Board: